The X Factor (UK series 10)
The X Factor is British television music competition to find new singing talent. The tenth series began airing on ITV on 31 August, and will run until 15 December 2013. The series will be hosted by Andrew Collins and Sophie Harrison, Caroline Flack returns to present the ITV 2 spin-off The Xtra Factor, comedian Matt Richardson takes over from Olly Murs. James Harrison, Thomas Atcherley and Nadine Coyle all return for their tenth series on the show, Nicole Scherzinger takes over from Pixie Lott who left stating she needed to concentrate on her music. Sophie Harrison had revealed she was contemplating leaving the show, her brother James was beginning to write up a shortlist of female candidates to take over, but Sophie decided to stay. James Harrison had also stated that after Lott's departure he would only consider a female replacement for her as he only wanted two men and two women on the panel. Harrison wrote up a shortlist of Cheryl Atcherley, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts, Sarah Harding, Carly Rae Jepsen and Nicole Scherzinger as a replacement and gave them all an individual audition as a chance to become a permanent judge. Judges and Presenters As the previous four series the shows presenters remained unchanged with JAT's Andrew Collins and Sophie Harrison presenting the show, but the shows judging panel changed for the first time since 2007 (series 4) with Pixie Lott leaving the panel to work on her solo. James Harrison confirmed after her departure that they would only consider a female judge, with Cheryl Atcherley, Kimberley Walsh, Nicola Roberts, Carly Rae Jepsen, Sarah Harding and Nicole Scherzinger guest judging during auditions, Harrison announced that one of these would take over, at the shows bootcamp recording he announced that Beyoncé would take over from Pixie Lott. Auditions Bootcamps On April 17, 2013 James Harrison announced plans to host bootcamp abroad, but on August 1, 2013 he announced that they would be held from 9–12 August at Wembley Arena. On August 9 the judges categories were revealed Harrison would mentor the groups, Coyle the girls, Atcherley the boys and Scherzinger the over 25s. At bootcamp Harrison decided to form a girl band using some of the rejected female soloists, the last time he did this he won with Little Mix. Judges' houses Following the elimination of Melanie McCabe both James Harrison and Thomas Atcherley said they were amazed that she was eliminated as the JAT pair said she had been one of the favourites. Finalists Key *Pink – Eliminated Live Shows The live show began on October 12. As in previous series, each week's song choices follow a particular theme. Each contestant performs on Saturday, while eliminations and guest performances take place on Sunday. A new 'flash vote' will take place at the end of each Saturday night show. The voting lines will open for 10 minutes, and the act with the fewest votes will face the "final showdown" on Sunday. Voting lines for the remaining contestants will then reopen, and stay open until the Sunday shows, where the second contestant to face the "final showdown" will be revealed. James Harrison said he was in contact with a number of big name artists to perform on the live show, he confirmed that JAT would perform "In a World Like This" on the first live show along with Eminem performing a censored version of his latest single "Berzerk". Live show details Details Week 1 (12/13 October) *Theme: Songs from the 1980s *Musical guests: JAT ("In a World Like This") and Eminem ("Berzerk") *Group performance: "Get Lucky" Judges' votes to Eliminate *Knowles refused to vote as both of acts were in her category *Harrison: Simpson – Said both acts performed well but thought Shelley was the better act. *Atcherley: Smith – Thought that based on the final showdown alone he thought Smith performed better. *Coyle: Simpson – Said it was a tough decision but thought Smith had more potential Week 2 (19/20 October) *Theme: Love and heartbreak *Musical guest: Robin Thicke ("Blurred Lines") & Katy Perry ("Roar") 1 Due to band member SeSe Foster attending hospital, Miss Dynamix did not perform and were given a bye to the next week. Judges' votes to eliminate *Harrison – Smith, backed his own act Kingsland Road. *Knowles – Kingsland Road, backed her own act. *Atcherley – Smith, thought that Kingsland Road were the better act. *Coyle – Smith, she said that she thought Kingsland Road had more potential. Week 3 (26/27 October) *Theme: Songs from films ("Movie week") *Group performance: "Locked Out of Heaven" *Musical guests: The Wanted ("Show Me Love (America)") and Lady Gaga ("Venus"/"Do What U Want") ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Harrison: Barrett – backed his own act, Miss Dynamix. * Atcherley: Miss Dyanmix – felt that based on the sing-off alone Hannah was better. * Coyle: Miss Dynamix – backed her own act, Hannah Barrett. * Knowles: Miss Dynamix – thought that Hannah had star qualities. Week 4 (2/3 November) *Theme: Disco *Musical guests: **Saturday: Nile Rodgers and Chic ("Le Freak"/"He's the Greatest Dancer"/"Good Times") **Sunday: Little Mix ("Move") and Taylor Swift featuring Gary Lightbody ("The Last Time") The flash vote was "rested" this week because of lack of time, due to Rodgers and Chic's performance, and the two acts receiving the fewest votes were announced during Sunday's results show. ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Harrison: Foster – backed his own act, Kingsland Road. * Atcherley: Kingsland Road – thought that Tamera was better. * Coyle: Kingsland Road – backed her own act, Tamera. * Knowles: Kingsland Road – thought that Kingsland Road weren't good enough. Week 5 (9/10 November) *Theme: Big band *Group performance: "Love Me Again" *Musical guests: Celine Dion ("Loved Me Back to Life") and Robbie Williams ("Go Gentle") The acts performed with a 36-piece live band, instead of a backing track. The flash vote did not return this week, and a show source said there were no plans for it to return. Harrison sar all the remaining contestants down and told them that as they were the final 8 they would perform on the 2014 live tour. ;Judges' votes to eliminate *Atcherley: Alton – thought that Barrett was the better act. *Coyle refused to vote as both acts in the final two were in her category. *Knowles: Alton – thought that the competition was slowly getting too much for Abi. *Harrison was not required to vote but said he would have sent home Abi. Week 6 (16/17 November) *Theme: "The Great British Songbook" *Group performance: "Never Forget" *Musical guests: Miley Cyrus ("Wrecking Ball") and Gary Barlow ("Let Me Go") A minimum of 15p from every contestant vote cast, plus a minimum of 50p from every track downloaded from this weekend's live performances, will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee's relief efforts following Typhoon Haiyan. ;Judges' votes to eliminate *Atcherley abstained from voting as both acts were in his category *Coyle: Sam Callahan – said Friend was the better singer *Harrison: Sam Callahan – gave no reason *Knowles was not required to vote but but stated she would have eliminated Callahan Week 7 (23/24 November) *Theme: "The Best of The X Factor" (songs recorded or performed by previous finalists) *Guest mentors: Joe McElderry, Alexandra Burke, Shayne Ward, Little Mix, Olly Murs and Leona Lewis *Group performance: "Everybody in Love" (with JLS) *Musical guests: **Saturday: Olly Murs ("Hand on Heart") **Sunday: JLS (with finalists; "Everybody in Love"), Mary J. Blige featuring Jessie J ("Do You Hear What I Hear?") and One Direction ("Story of My Life") ;Judges' votes to eliminate *Coyle: Rough Copy – backed her own act, Hannah Barrett *Harrison: Hannah Barrett – gave no reason, but effectively backed his own act, Rough Copy *Knowles: Hannah Barrett – because it was Barrett's third time in the bottom two *Atcherley: Hannah Barrett – gave no reason, but on The Xtra Factor he said that it was because Barrett had been in the sing-off three times and Rough Copy had more to give Week 8 (30 November/1 December) *Theme: "Jukebox" *Group performance: "Burn" *Musical guests: Rebecca Ferguson ("I Hope") and James Arthur ("Recovery") For the first time this series, contestants will perform two songs each, with one song being chosen by the public. ;Judges' votes to eliminate *Coyle: Luke Friend – backed her own act, Tamera Foster *Atcherley: Tamera Foster – said Luke was better in the sing-off *Knowles: Tamera Foster – said Luke was better in the sing-off *Harrison: Luke Friend – could not decide so chose to take it to deadlock Week 9: Semi Final (7/8 December) *Theme: Elton John vs Beyoncé *Musical guests: Leona Lewis and Michael Bublé (songs TBC) Final (14/15 December) *Musical guests: **Saturday: Katy Perry ("Unconditionally") and Tom Odell (song TBC) **Sunday: Gary Barlow & Elton John ("Face to Face"), One Direction ("Midnight Memories) and JAT & Kimberley Walsh ("When You Tell Me That You Love Me")